If a student spends four years at SSFS and spend $10 at the Beestro each week, they will spend $1,440 before they graduate. Spending a small amount of money at the Beestro, even once a week, adds up in the long run. I wanted to interview different students to find out why the Beestro is such a popular place for students to buy snacks.

When asked about the motivation for Beestro spending, students’ answers varied. For one student, the Beestro “is accessible and they have good food.” Another student commented, “I get hungry multiple times throughout the day and I am either too lazy or too forgetful to bring anything from home. And it’s convenient.”

Students also had variation in the frequency of Beestro purchases. In interviews with customers, answers ranged from “once or twice a day, most days of the week,” to “every other day, but… [nothing] anymore.” Another Beestro frequenter mentioned, “In the beginning of the year, I would buy about three things a day but now, I only buy about two things a day; two or three, at most four, days a week.” In general, as another student said, students buy things “around once a day, a few times a week.”

In interviews, students concluded that, at the Beestro, they were not spending their money wisely. One student described the allure of the Beestro’s products:
“I would just be like, ‘Oh I’m hungry, and I want that, and I want that, and I want that.’ Because first of all you don’t have physical money so you can’t physically see the dollar bills that you are paying. And so they would just ask you, ‘Do you want this? Okay.’

The thought of people spending large amounts of money at the Beestro may cause people to wonder if students still eat school lunch. Among the interview responses, were “Yes I do because it comes with my tuition and I don’t want to have to bring lunch every morning. Plus, I get hungry.” Emphasizing how hungry they can get, another student answered, “Yes, because I get hungry multiple times throughout the day. So, it’s breakfast, a snack between breakfast and lunch, lunch, snack between lunch and dinner, dinner, and sometimes after dinner. I eat a lot.”

The fact that all four interviewees said that they ate lunch every day begs the question: do students feel it is especially important or obligatory to eat the school lunch? One student answered, “I guess because that’s the only lunch you get and I like it anyways, so why not.” Another student put simply, “Well, we paid for it, it’s there, and I’m hungry. So, yes.” A vegetarian student, commenting on their menu options, replied, “I kind of do [think it is importan] because part of my tuition is going towards that but also [menu options] have gotten to a point where it’s pretty much just all carbs and I don’t always feel like I am getting enough good food out of it…I still feel like it is wasteful to not eat it because I’m just going to get hungry later and probably buy something from the Beestro.” But are the amounts of money spent at the Beestro–especially by students skipping lunch– excessive when the school lunch provided is already paid for in students’ tuition?

Spending money at the Beestro is not necessarily poor decision making, however. For example, someone may simply not have the time or capability to buy snacks in bulk from a store. Student may not remember to pack a snack everyday. Furthermore, most teenagers in highschool are growing and get hungry quite often, so the Beestro is a quick solution to their hunger and may allow them to focus more during class. Later in life, Beestro customers may think back to their high school careers and may wonder if they spent their money well. Some might regret their spending. Others may wish they could have used that money for something more important. At least, for the moment, consider how spending at the Beestro can add up over a long span of time, especially if you purchase food consistently.